Sound-producing preparations for the Dutch Design Week

The exhibition of the Embassy of Health will show how design (thinking) can shape the future of healthcare. Just like last year, during their first exhibition, design agency VanBerlo (organizers of the Embassy of Health) will show different healthcare projects. VanBerlo invited us to showcase some of our projects, due to our collaboration with VanBerlo during the development of CareTunes.

An enthusiastic team of students of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering is working on the further development of several projects that already started in the beginning of this year. The students, both from the masters Integrated Product Design and Design for Interaction, are bringing CareTunes, UltiMo and Doplor to a higher level. Simultaneously, the team is busy with prototyping a mysterious ICU sound-producing installation.

CareTunes is an interactive prototype that is developed by Koen Bogers during his graduation project. It’s a monitoring tool for nurses, which translates the patient’s vital signs into musical motives. Instead of being exposed to sensitive alarms, nurses will listen to a continuous musical stream that signals changes in the vital signs as faster tempo or musical dissonance.

UltiMo is a monitoring tool in the ICU which adapts its information on the screen to the people being present in the room. The project team, consisting of Integrated Product Design master students, are bringing their interactive prototype with different modes for the nurse, patient and visitor to a more detailed level.

The last showcase is Doplor: a device that gives nurses insights into the sounds in the ICU. Since nurses contribute to this production as well, this device will help them in becoming more quiet. Regarding graduate student Roel Redert, they have to do this gradually and fluently.

Curious how these products shape the future ICU? Come and see us at the Dutch Design Week, in Gebouw TR, 20 – 28 October, Eindhoven.